Secret Daughter
by SarahShalomDavid
Summary: Set during "Dagger", Michelle Lee's daughter is missing - is it her daughter? What secret does it reveal about another team member?
1. Little Ones

Set during "Dagger"

Tony sighed, "How can we work with someone for three years and not know they have a daughter?" he asked his partner; Ziva David. He was frustrated that he had no idea about it.

The Israeli woman smiled, "You cannot know everything about someone DiNozzo" she said softly

Anthony nodded, still looking around, "Yeah but…"

Ziva sighed, "But nothing Tony, there is a reason why work and home is separate"

Tony looked at Ziva, "Would you keep your daughter secret from us? Ye know.. if you had one"

Ziva looked down, deep in her own thoughts, "She might have had a good reason, I mean the little girl was raised as Lee's sister not her daughter, she may not even know who her mother is" she said softly

The N.C.I.S agent nodded, "Would you keep a kid secret from us then?"

Agent David nodded, "It would depend on the circumstance, yes?"

Tony nodded, "So, have you got a kid?"

Ziva looked at him confused, "Why are you asking this?"

Anthony shrugged, moving to stand in front of her, "Well I just wanted to check seeing as we didn't know about Lee's" he said with a grin

Miss David nodded, "Yes I do, now could we get on with this we have a little girl to search for" she said annoyed at him, and her mind was filled with images of her little girl

Tony went silent, and when they reached a small hut inside was the little girls room, all pink and feminine, Ziva picked up a bear on the bed and smiled before putting it down. He watched her closely, asking softly, "Where's your kid Zee?"

Ziva looked away, "I do not know Tony" she said with a sigh, taking photos of everything in the room

Anthony nodded, "So, did your parents raise her like Lee's kid?" he asked curiously

Ziva lifted the sheet from the side of the bed after seeing ketchup, "She marked every day she was here in ketchup" she said softly, "Such a brave little girl" she commented

Tony knelt beside her, "Was she adopted?" he asked gently, with his hand on her shoulder

Ziva bit her lip and shook her head, "I would never have given her up Tony" she said annoyed at him that he would suggest such a thing

Anthony DiNozzo bit his lip, "She was kidnapped?" he asked her

Ziva nodded with teary eyes, as she silently wondered if her daughter marked the days she was away from her, or if she even knew who her mother really was.

Agent DiNozzo nodded, "Gibbs wanted us to leave the scene as it is so we better get back to headquarters, we can work on finding your daughter too" he said slowly helping her up from the floor where she was knelt down

Ziva nodded, "Please do not say anything until after this case, I could not face it Tony" she said softly

Tony nodded, "Of course, but that means you have to tell me about her" he said softly, leading her back to their vehicle.


	2. Venting System Mystery

Once the investigation was over the little girl was sat on the windowsill with Gibbs, Ziva watched on with tears as the little girl was given Michelle Lee's badge, the woman was gone but the little girl would remember Mishy forever.

Tony noticed the tears in Ziva's eyes and let her go and have some time alone, as she vanished the the women's restroom.

Gibbs looked up when his gut told him he was being watched, he looked around confused – nobody was watching him, he looked up at the air conditioning vent and frowned.

Once the little girl was collected by her aunt he got up, "Go get Ziva" he said to Tony, "Then find McGee" he demanded

Tony nodded, "Sure thing Boss" he said disappearing, he watched the vent, the bullpen was silent then he heard a scuffle and knew for sure that there was something in the vent.

He watched it more and climbed up on the desk, and began to undo the vent with his knife, and then looked inside, frowning when he saw it empty

Ziva began to laugh, "Gibbs what are you doing on my desk?" she asked amused

Tony and McGee laughed, and was soon silenced by a glare from their boss, as Jethro pointed to the vent, "Something is in the venting system, find it" he said gruffly and got down and went back to his desk

Ziva gradually stopped laughing and then climbed onto her desk, taking a look she reached inside and pulled out one long curly brown hair, flashing back to holding her baby girl in her arms.

_Ziva grinned as she held her two year old girl in her arms, rocking her to sleep, her long brown curly hair cascading down her cheeks, the little girl was fast asleep._

She passed the hair to Tony, "Take this down to Abby for DNA testing" she said simply

Tony grabbed it and ran down to Abby, as Ziva leant down and picked up her lunch from her desk; a sandwhich, crisps, apple, yoghurt and a chocolate bar along with a drink all in a bag and she put it inside the vent.

Timothy frowned, "Why are you putting it up there? Mice don't eat that much Ziva" she said softly

Ziva smiled, "I do not think it is a mouse" she said softly

Timothy frowned, "Then what is it?" he asked confused

Agent Gibbs smirked, "A kid" he said simply

Ziva looked at him with shock on her face, "What makes you think that?"

Jethro smiled, "That hair you pulled out, no adult is light enough to be up there, and there has been a lot of reports of stolen food and drink, my lunch went missing, so did my coffee, and my jacket"

Tony had returned, and had overheard, "My torch went missing, and my spare shirt"

Ducky and Abby were stood behind Tony, as Tim nodded, "My pens keep disappearing, and paper off my desk, my lamp vanished too a few days ago"

Ducky grinned, "I do believe I heard something in the vent in Autopsy too, actually if I recall when Ari came into autopsy he looked a lot up at the venting system, and it was after that I remember the noises started and things begun to go missing" he said softly

Ziva looked down; going silent as she vanished into her own thoughts. Abby looked around, "I always put food by the vent, and it always goes. I thought I was feeding a mouse, I named it Bobo" she said with a grin, "Loves chocolate, specially white chocolate… that goes really quick, Bert went missing a few days ago, then the next day he was back again although in a totally different place to where he was before"

Tony laughed, "She realised it made noises then" he said amused

Abby looked at him, "What makes you think it's a she?" she asked confused

Anthony DiNozzo smiled, "My gut" he said simply

Abby turned to Gibbs, "What does your gut tell you Gibbs?" she asked

Gibbs glanced up, "That Ziva is hiding something" he said softly

Abby turned to Ziva who was climbing up onto her desk again and smiled seeing her lunch gone, and she turned to Abby, "Will the DNA test be done yet?"

Abby shook her head, "No" she said softly

Agent David nodded, "Okay" she said simply, "Tony give me an arm up" she said

Tony grinned, "It's leg up Zeevah" he said amused

Ziva rolled her eyes, "Whatever, just help me and meet me where this ends… possibly a cavity in a wall, large enough to sleep in" she said softly as Tony helped her up and she vanished out of sight.

Tony, McGee, and the rest of the team dashed to the other side of the room and found what Ziva was on about; a gap between MTAC and the director's office. Pulling the director's sofa away, they undid the vent.

Ziva crawled through the venting system, towards an open area….


	3. Lost and Found

Her caramel curls cascaded down around her facial features. The five year old child was the spitting image of a much younger Ziva David but with the bright clue crystal eyes of the one and only Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Her tanned complexion appeared to be eve more tanned than it actually was due to the dust and dirt gathered from living in the venting system of NCIS for the past few weeks. The little girl had been brought in by her uncle; Ari Haswari. She had no idea what happened to her uncle and he had abandoned her when he broke into the apparently secure building.

She sat on a ruffled and creased shirt on the floor, in a gap between the walls of MTAC and the Director's office. She had a couple of towels on the floor along with a shirt, a jacket and a tracksuit top. Close to her was a couple of torches which were directed at the dusty ceiling of her secret hiding spot - a place she had to call home. She began to wonder if her uncle would ever return for her. A photo of her mother; Ziva was sat on the floor beside her which featured herself as a baby in her mother's arms and Ziva's two sisters with them; Arianna and Thalia. The photo had been taken when Sarah was only two hours old and the reflection of Ziva's mother could be seen in the mirror taking the photo that this little girl clung to for her entire life.

The lunch that had belonged to Ziva was sat in front of the child who ate a little of it and put it to the side along with a few pieces of chocolate that she had gotten from Abby's lab and some other little bits of food. She had learnt that even though NCIS was a place with plenty of chances to grab food, she also knew that at times it was too busy to try and the risk of being caught was way too high. Her uncle had taught her to fear agents. However she recognized her mother and wished she could be with her. She didn't understand how he could call them the enemy, after all the gothic and eccentric lady in the forensics lab gave her chocolate, called her 'Bobo' and even gave her a dolly that had a similar outfit as the lady who gave it to her. She was very glad that it didn't make strange noises like the hippo she temporarily borrowed from Abby. The dolly was the only friend she had in the strange world she lived in but with a less than normal upbringing in the heart of Mossad she didn't truly know what to do with the doll and was learning on her own how to play. Something that most children take for granted, she didn't know what to do as the only games she was taught were methods to become an agent for Hamas - trained by her fierce and ruthless uncle. The man who killed Ziva's mother and two sisters and also helped kidnap and hide his blue eyed niece.

The only protection she had in her hide out was a gun and two knives. Not something a child should know how to use but a childhood wasn't what she had at all. They sat beside her along with the other things that she had managed to grab whilst she lived since her ucle had snuck her into NCIS with the use of a duffle bag when he himself crept into the building.

The little girl yawned and snuggled up into the corner of her self made hideout, turning off the torches when she heard strange noises in the vent that sounded as though it was coming towards her. It was pitch black apart from the lines of light that flooded in from the air vent in the director's office where the delightful sound of Jenifer Shepherd's voice floated into her ears.

When Ziva entered the small area in between the two walls. A space that was not featured on any map of the NCIS buiding and the team along with Ziva hadn't known of its existance. Until now that is. The corner where the child hid was too dark to see clearly and so she shone the small torch around. She froze at the sight of the blue eyed israeli child and her heart lept into her throat, "Sarah?" she said softly

Sarah stared with wide eyes and was frightened, she didn't know what t do. Ziva smiled and flicked on the torches which caused the tiny room to light up as the vent was removed. Soon the child began to panic upon seeing so many faces looking in. Ziva looked at the team that had become family to her and softly spoke as to not freak out the child. Her child. "Wait a moment, give her some time", her gentle request was accepted and everyonne backed off as Ziva smiled at her baby girl, "Do you know who I am, Sarah?" she said softly.

Sarah nodded and pointed out the photograph, "Ima" she said with a grin saying her native word for mother.

Tears seeped into the elder israeli's eyes as she heard her little girl call her 'Ima' for the first time in her entire life. Happiness is not a word that could successfully cover the feeling that she felt at hearing that small yet important word, "Come here my prinsteein" she said gently with her arms extended to the scared child.

Soon Ziva's arms were filled with a bouncy little child with caramel curl locks and tiny arms that clung to the elder israeli. Ziva held her close and gradually coached her baby girl to exit the hideout with her into Jen's office where not only Gibbs, Tony and McGee were but also Abby, Ducky and the red headed director whose office they were in.

Her little face buried into her mother's embrace as the agents watched on.

Ziva held her child closely and cried with happiness at having her baby back. She was proud to finally get to introduce her darling daughter to her family or as Aby had nicknamed her; 'Bobo'.

'Bobo' was about to have a shock, she was about to meet her mother's colleagues. The israeli child raised to fight, spy and kill was about to have the biggest culture shock of all.


End file.
